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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33498	The books and divers epistles of the faithful servant of the Lord Josiah Coale collected and published, as it was desired by him the day of his departure out of this life.	Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Collection of the several books of Josiah Coale.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Whore unvailed.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Vindication of the light within.; Parker, Alexander, 1628-1689.; Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.; Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1671 (1671)	Wing C4751_PARTIAL; Wing C4760A_PARTIAL_CANCELLED; ESTC R23397	193,793	414

the Cause of God in the Prisons of London Hartford c. This is a Salutation of my Love and Life MY dearly beloved Friends who are oft brought into my Remembrance and presented before me by the Spirit of the Lord with whom my Life is and unto whom the Love of my soul doth even flow forth and extend it self in the Vertue of that Life which is Infinite and Eternal and in the Spirit of Supplication my soul is daily pour'd forth unto the Lord before the Throne of his Majesty on your behalfs Beseeching and Desiring That he will so furnish and arm you with the whole Armour of his own Righteousness that you may be entire wanting nothing and that you may be enabled to stand and hold out unto the End in this day of Battel and Tryal and that as Valiant Souldiers of the Lamb you may endure all Hardships as seeing him present in the midst of you who is Invisible in the Faith of the Answer whereof I dearly salute you all And dear Friends in this you may all be enboldned and in this Consideration your Heads may be lifted up above all Sufferings even in the midst of them that the Cause in which you are engag'd and for which you suffer is a Righteous Cause of which we have the Witness or Testimony in our own Consciences and a more certain Witness cannot be and this Witness doth testifie That our Cause is the Cause of God who hath call'd us out of Darkness into his marvelous Light and hath made choice of us to bear Testimony to and stand Witnesses for his Name and Truth in this Day of his Spiritual Appearance and Manifestation or Revelation of the Son of his Love whose quickening Spirit we have receiv'd by which we are seperated from the World and by which we have been and still are constrain'd to bear Testimony against all Oppression and Cruelty and against all the Unrighteousness of this sinful World for which Cause these Sufferings come upon us and attend us But blessed be the Lord who hath call'd us with so Honorable a Calling and accounted us worthy to suffer for so Honourable a Cause as Our Testimony for his Blessed Name and Truth the Reward thereof which is great will be certain unto all who are found Faithful unto the End Wherefore my dear Friends towards whom my Bowels of Love even earn and my Life and Soul reacheth as you may feel who are sensible of Life I say unto you all in the Name and Fear of the Lord Lift up your Heads over and above all Sufferings both present and to come I say in the Faith look over them all unto him who is invisible who will out-last them all who alone hath Immortallity and dwells in the Light whose Presence is certainly with you and amongst you and will be so continu'd as you walk and continue with him in his Everlasting Covenant of Light in which he dwells Wherefore let your Life Delight and Habitation be in him for my Friends you whose Hearts are upright unto God know right well that the Lord hath not been at any time wanting unto you in any Exercise of what nature or kind soever in time past the consideration of which is a sufficient Encouragement to every one to cast their Care upon him and to resign up themselves unto him who takes Care for them And if the Enemy be permitted so far to prevail as to execute his Decrees made against us yet in this may we be all satisfied that it shall certainly work for good unto us in the End and shall make for the furtherance of the Glorious Gospel of Peace and for the Exaltation of the Worthy Name of the Lord by which we are call'd wherefore in Contentedness with the Will of the Lord in all states let every one rest resign'd up unto him and in the Gift of his own Spirit wait upon him to receive daily Refreshment from his Presence that you may be Water'd Refreshed and Consolated from day to day that so you may grow in his Grace and be kept fresh and living in his precious Truth to shine forth in the beauty thereof And let it be your great Care above all things to keep in the Enjoyment and Feeling of the Peace and Love of God in your own Hearts and in that you will have Content in all Conditions and live in Love and in Peace one with another and have perfect Charity amongst your selves and whatsoever tends to the contrary let it be condemned by the Light in the rise of it And bear with and for one another and watch over one another in Love and therein exhort one another and build up one another in the most precious Faith which gives you Victory over the World and over all the Persecuting Powers of Darkness and be a Strength and a Refreshing and a Comfort one unto another in your Persecuted Suffering State and Condition And God Almighty keep you all and refresh your hearts daily with his Love and renew your strength with the vertue of his Life that none may be weary nor faint in your Minds but that all may endure with Patience and Valour and Boldness and Courage in the Lamb's Spirit unto the End that in the End you may be Crown'd with the Crown of Immortal Life and Glory which never fades away which is the Daily-Prayer of him who dearly and entirely loves you all who are of an Upright Heart by which Love I was constrain'd to salute you all at this time with these few Lines and so rest in it From my outward Beeing near Bristol this 20th of the 1st Moneth 1665. Your Dear and truly Loving Friend and Brother Josiah Coale A Salutation of Love From the Spirit of Life Unto all Friends of TRUTH Who are in Exilement or Sentenc'd to Exilement for the Exercise of their Pure Consciences in the Service and Worship of God MY beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters who are expos'd to Exilement from the Land of your Nativity for the sake of your Testimony to the blessed Truth of God and who have been and are content to suffer the loss of all that were dear unto you in this present World for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and rather then to betray that blessed Testimony which God had committed unto you to bear for his Name and who have sufficiently manifested your fidelity unto the Lord and his blessed Truth even in the view of the whole World as a Witness against their False Antichristian and Idolatrous Worships which God by his Power will certainly throw down and bring to nought and who have bore Testimony in Faithfulness in and by your Submissiveness to an Exil'd Estate against that Antichristian spirit of Persecution which Raigns and Rules in the Hearts of all the Apostate False Christians whose Worship standeth in Subjection to the Precepts and Commandments of Men and in Bowing to Stocks and Stones and to the Works of Men's Hands and in other Outward

worse Suffering upon them and more grievous to be borne then that which now is threatned Wherefore my Dear Friends Partakers of the Heavenly Calling in Christ Jesus Put on Valour and Boldness and Courage for the Cause of God which we are now engaged in and stand fast in that Liberty wherewith Christ our Lord hath made you free and be nothing terrified because of the Rage of the Enemies of God's Truth but whereunto you have already attain'd there abide and hold fast that which you have already receiv'd lest you lose your Crown and keep out of Consultings with flesh and Blood lest you be thereby entangled with the Yoke of Bondage for the Flesh is weak and not willing to bear Sufferings but the Spirit is willing and as it is enclin'd unto and obey'd and follow'd in its Motions and Leadings it makes willing to bear and endure all things and to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of the Lord Jesus rhetefore let none Esau like sell his Birthright for a Mess of Pottage but like Worm Jacob wrestle with the Lord in his own Strength that you may prevail as Princes and obtain the Inheritance incorruptible that never fadeth away which is the earnest Desire and Prayer of him who dearly loves and salutes the whole Flock of God in every Region and Quarter of the Earth London the 29th of the 6th Moneth of the Year 1667. Josiah Coale To the Elect of God Every where Called and Chosen in Christ Jesus before the World and before Transgression was in which the World lies The Salutation of Love Mercy and Peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ The Third general EPISTLE DEartly Beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters For as much as the Almighty Power and Arm of the Lord hath been stretched forth unto you in this Day of his Love by which you have been gather'd out of the dark Paths which the World walks in and have been cleansed from the Polutions and Defilements which many yet lie wallowing in and have been separated from the Abominations of the World by the Word of his Power which sanctifieth unto himself and hath administred unto you an Entrance into that Kingdom which is not of this World and which fades not away where you are made Partakers of the Durable Riches and Everlasting Treasure with which your Hearts have been filled from day to day and from time to time yea manifold hath his Benefits and Mercies and Goodness been unto you and often hath he caused your Cups to overflow so that you could say in your Hearts That you had received your souls Desire and were fully satisfied and your Souls did Bless Magnifie and Praise the Name of the Lord the God of your Salvation who hath done so great things for you even beyond declaring who brought deliverance unto you in the time of great Affliction and Distress when you were compassed about with many Sorrows and saw none to comfort you when you were even in the horrible Pit and saw your selves at a great Distance from your Maker by reason of Sin and Transgression and were in your own eyes even shut up in Darkness and in Obscurity then did the Distressed cry unto the Lord and he heard the Cries and Groanings thereof and was moved with Compassion towards his own Seed and he arose in his mighty Power and stretched forth his Glorious Arm and reached unto his own Elect and thereby brought Deliverance thereunto And so the Oppressed came to be set free and the Distressed to be set at liberty and this was the Day of Glad-tidings unto you and the acceptable Year of the Lord though a Day of Vengeance came upon the Wicked and Ungodly and upon that part which had led your minds astray and to transgress the pure Law and holy Commandment of the Lord And so my Dearly Beloved The Lord having done so great things for you in bringing you out of the Egyptian Darkness and out of the waste howling Wilderness and hath brought you into a Plentiful Land flow-in with Milk and Honey and with the good things thereof hath he satisfied you and aboundantly filled you time after time therefore now rememember and beware that you forget not the Lord nor his wonderous Works but dwell in his eternal Power by which he hath done these things for you and walk in all Humility before him answering the motion of his Pure Holy Spirit by which you are quicken'd unto Life that you may know it continually to remain in you that so by it you may be kept alive unto God And this Spirit may be your Leader and Instructor in all things so will you have the Testimony thereof in your own particulars to bear Witness for you that you are his Children For they only are the Sons of God that are led by his Spirit and they only have the Testimony of it witnessing for them that are faithful Followers thereof and such enjoy Peace and Consolation from the Lord which is more to be valu'd and esteem'd than all things visible for they are perishing and last but for a Moment but the Precious Truth of the Lord of which you are made Partakers that is Everlasting and liveth and abideth forever therefore let that be prized above all things else which in comparison thereof is but as Dross and Dung and so it was in your eye when full the Glory thereof appeared in you And you know full well what you have parted with to purchase the Possession of it Therefore let none sell his Birthright for a Mess of Pottage but let it be forever in your Eye esteem'd above all things under the Son And let not the Subtilty of the Enemy draw any ones Mind into the love of any perishing thing nor into the fear of the Threatnings of Man whose Breath is in his Nostrils but stand in the pure Fear and Dread of the living God and continually set him before your Eyes and beware of entring into Consultations with Flesh and Blood for thereby you may fall into the Snare of the Enemy and be overcome by his Wiles but give up simply and freely to whatsoever you are called to either to do or suffer for his Name 's sake and for his Truth 's sake in your several Places and Callings that so a Faithful Testimony for his Name may be given by every one who makes mention thereof and that professeth his Eternal Truth and of this be assured He will be your exceeding great Reward but if any draw back or hanker in their Minds and through letting in of Slavish Fears deny the Lord who hath purchas'd them unto himself by his own Blood by which he hath cleansed your Hearts that so you might become a fit Habitation for his own Spirit to dwell in I say If any through the fear of Man deny him in any thing that he calls unto then they lose their Reward and lose their Peace with God and the Pangs and Anguish of Heart

the Name of the Lord and for God that the Spirit of Christ doth not nor never did admit or allow of persecution or of destroying mens lives about Worship and Faith towards God neither are any of them true Christians whatsoever they profess that are found so doing For it is not a bare profession of Christ and of zeal for his cause and crying up Ordinances c. that makes people true Christians or that gives them acceptance with God or will make them well-pleasing unto God But that which makes a man a true Christian is his obedience unto that Spirit which baptizeth into the true Faith by which Righteousness is wrought Heb. 11.33 and into Christ who is the Author of faith and will bring him to have the mind of Christ as the true Christians had and will make him partaker of his divine nature and will teach him to live soberly righteously and godly in this present World and to do to all men as he would they should do unto him which is according to the Law and Prophets that Christ came to fulfil And indeed there is nothing that can bring a man into this true Christian state but only the working and operation of the Spirit of Christ in his inward parts which all ought to obey and submit unto For the persecuting Jews who were uncircumcised in heart and ears and did alwaies resist the holy Ghost they professed as great Zeal for God and his Cause as the Apostate Christians now do and they look'd for the coming of the Messiah of whom all the Prophets prophesied and professed they would Adore him and Reverence him c. and said That if they had been in the dayes of their Fathers they would not have slain the Prophets Mat. 23.31 who prophesied of the coming of Christ and so they had seemingly a great Zeal for God and his Truth But alas a Murdering spirit was found in them for notwithstanding they professed That they would not have kill'd the Prophets yet they kill'd the Son who was the end of the Prophets And although the Prophets signified the Time when Dan. 9.24 and the Place where the Messiah should be born Mic. 5.2 yet when he was come according to the Prophets which they profest these Professing Jews would not own him nor receive him John 1.11 because he reprov'd their Hypocrisie and their Murdering spirit John 8.40 but they Crucified and Slew Him And this is the very State of the Apostate Christians this day For who is there now amongst them but will profess as great Love to Christ as the Jews in Christ's dayes did to the Prophets who prophesied of him and who is there now among'st them but will say Had we been in Pilate's dayes 〈◊〉 would not have crucified Christ nor delivered him up to be crucified as the Jews said of the Prophets yet notwithstanding their so saying they do as the Jews did for now in this day of his spiritual appearance which they profess they look for and expect they are found persecuting of him in his Members under the sam̄e pretence that the Jews persecuted him in their day viz. as a Blasphemer c. And so the Persecutors were in all ages blinded by the godd of the World who was a murtherer from the beginning and though they could see the iniquities of their fathers and predecessors in persecuting and killing the Prophets yet the envy of their hearts was such that they could not see their own iniquities in persecuting and slaying the Son who was greater than the Servants whom their fathers slew so as I said before it is not a profession of Christ and his Ordinances or zeal for his cause that makes people true Christians neither is God Worshipped upon any of those mountains where the persecuting and destroying one another is but the Worship of God consisteth in obedience to that Spirit of Truth which condemns all those works of darkness and cruelty and in his own Mountain of Holiness where nothing hurts nor destroys Isa 11.9 And such is the Father now seeking to worship him that will worship him there and is now gathering his Sheep from off the barren Mountains upon which the Whore sits where they have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day of Anchrist's reign and where the Wars and Fightings are even to his own Holy Mountain where they shall learn war no more Isa 2.4 And this is the work that the Envious and Murtherous one opposeth and bestirs himself with all his force and might in his Instruments of Cruelty and Men of War arming of them with all kind 〈◊〉 weapons that possibly he can form to fight against this Appearance and Work of God for so it hath been that since we who are reproachfully called Quakers were raised up to be a people to bear Testimony for the Name of the Lord and of the working of his Spirit and Power we have alwayes been even as a Butt for all the Archers of Babylon even from every Mountain to shoot at and our sufferings have not been only in our persons and estates as the spoyling of our goods and scourgings and cruel mockings and imprisonments many unto death as this Nation to her anguish must be made to know but even all sorts of Babylons Merchants or they that trades in every part of her or within her Subburbs have oft made it their business to write and print against us endeavouring thereby as much as in them lay to render us odious to our own Nation and to Nations about us under pretence that we were Papists and Jesuits and that we propagated Jesuitical Principles c. but they being almost if not altogether weary of that work finding it to be to no purpose for the truth which we profess hath still got ground and flourisheth through all these things now at last the Papists or Jesuits themselves who I perceive have a secret hope of a day once more in this Nation they begin to put out their heads and to print against us and so both Protestants and Papists even every head and horn of the Beast after whom the whole World wonders are found pushing against the Lamb and the Saints Rev. 17.14 For of late a certain Pamphlet accidentally came to my hands written by a perfect Roman Catholick who subscribed his name A. S. in which he seems to shew himself sensible of the great distractions that are throughout the whole Christendom about the true way of worship and concerning the true Church and first states a Question viz. which is this Church c. and afterwards makes it his business to prove the Church of Rome to be this true Church and that by divers Arguments by him stated in a Syllogistical manner And I also finding the Author of the aforesaid Pamphlet therein smiting at the People of God called Quakers and endeavouring to render them odious by affirming they are led by a deluding spirit c. I found my self somewhat concerned to return a brief reply

forementioned Scripture by which it is plain that he condemns himself in the things he is doing 5. Again Fifthly he saith That the Spirit of God saith Hear the Church but the spirit of the Devil contradicts and saith Hear not the Church but Christ alone for of Christ saith he it s written This is my beloved Son him hear ye behold the Devil pleads for Christ of purpose to deceive Christions c. Answ To which I answer That I think I need not say much to convince all that reads but A. S. his own words that he is either grosly ignorant or else abominably wilful and wicked for who can believe that the Devil will plead for Christ or perswade people to hear Christ and disswade them from hearing of the Church certainly if he would perswade people to hear the greater he would not disswade them from hearing the lesser And how can people possibly be deceived that hears Christ and obeys him I cannot believe that its the spirit of the Devil that perswades people to hear Christ but rather that its the drawings of the Spirit of the Father that invites them to come unto the Son and to hear him for Christ said None cometh unto me except my Father who hath sent me draw him Joh. 6.44 But A. S. contrariwise in effect saith That the Devil draws people to come unto Christ and to hear him By which he hath manifestly shewed that he is of a contrary spirit unto Christ Therefore A. S. is an Antichrist and one that puts Light for darkness and darkness for light against whom the woe is pronounced Isa 5.20 And although A. S. so much pleads for the Church whom I know all will hear that hears Christ yet upon serious consideration I find its of purpose to deceive Christians and so he hath shewed himself as bad as the Devil he speaks of being found doing the same work of which he seems to accuse the Devil for in his sixth Chapter I find him as afore declared in effect perswading people Not to adhere to the motions of the Spirit of Christ under pretence that they cannot tell whence from God or the Devil it comes or whither to Heaven or Hell it goeth c. And as above he is again perswading people That its a dangerous thing to hear that Spirit that invites them to hear Christ calling it the Devil because it doth not invite them to hear the Church of Rome also But I never read or heard before that any spirit did invite people to hear Christ but the Spirit of the Father and his Spirit said This is my beloved Son him hear ye Mat. 17.5 Therefore that Spirit that invites people to hear the Son of God is not the Devil but the Spirit of the Father and ought to be heard and obeyed by all Sixtly Again S. A. affirmeth that the Spirit of God saith That Carpenters Smiths Masons and other Tradesmen must not meddle with Ecclesiastical things as to Preach or Teach c. But saith he the evil spirit affirmeth the quite contrary by perswading them they may all prophesie one by one But alas then saith A. S. He deceiveth for that place is understood of the real and True Prophets of whose number all the Devils in Hell cannot prove all Tradesmen to be Answ Here A. S. seems to oppose that which for my part I know none affirms for who is there that saith all Tradesmen have the Spirit of Prophesie I know none Yet although all Tradesmen have it not it doth not therefore follow that no Tradesmen have it neither did I ever read that the Spirit of God did forbid Tradesmen to meddle with those things nor doth that Scripture which A. S. quotes confirm any such thing which he affirmes but rather the contrary And we do read in the Scriptures of Truth that Christ did call some of several Tradesmen to Teach the Way of God and to Preach the everlasting Gospel witness St Peter a Fisher-man St Paul a Tent-maker with divers others that might be mentioned so that though all Tradesmen have not the Spirit of Prophesie yet we see that some had and they were not forbidden but commanded to Preach and Teach and therefore they who have the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophesie although they be Tradesmen they may Preach and Teach according to the Gift thereof received for the Apostle said Every one as he hath received the Gift of the Spirit so let him administer 1 Pet. 4.10 Seventhly And saith A. S. the Apostle said Women must not speak in the Church but the Devil saith they may For the Scripture averreth saith he That your Sons and Daughters shall Prophesie this Devil deceiveth the Women-Quakers But alas that Scripture was fulfilled in the Apostles and in the true Prophetesses in their times as Anna Luke 2.28 and now is in such as have the True Spirit of Prophesie which Quakers Wives and Daughters can never prove themselves to have Answ Here A. S. hath confessed that there was Prophetesses in the Apostles dayes and that there now is at this day also and the Apostle spake of Women that were helpers with him in the Gospel Phil. 4.3 So then its undeniable that Women did speak and Prophesie and now may though the Apostles did not Permit Busie-bodies and Tattlers to be asking Questions in the Church but said they should ask their Husbands at Home So the thing disputable is whether or no Quakers Wives and Daughters have the true Spirit of Prophesie concerning which I say this The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie and many Wives and Daughters of the people called Quakers have received the Testimony of Jesus and knows the Life of Jesus manifested in them as by their fruits of Love Meekness Gentleness Patience Long-suffering c. which are fruits of the Spirit doth appear unto those who have a knowledg of them Therefore they have the Spirit of Prophesie And further several of the Wives and Daughters amongst the people called Quakers have Prophesied of the desolation of the great Whore the Church of Rome and when that comes to pass it will be thereby proved that they have the true Spirit of Prophesie and then shall every Tongue confess to it and in the mean time let none speak evil of the things they know not lest they be found fighters against God Eightly Again A. S. saith That the good Spirit saith It is a Religious Act to Swear by God in a Just Cause but the Evil-spirit contradicts for it s written saith he Sware not at all Behold the Puritanism of this impure spirit but alas he deludeth for God expresly commands Jer. 4.2 Thou shalt Swear the Lord liveth in Truth in Judgment and in justice c. Answ I answer although in the Law and Prophets people were commanded to Swear in Truth and Righteousness and to perform their Oaths to the Lord yet Christ the new Covnant whom God promised should not be according to the

the many Writings of his own which remain upon Record will speak forth to those who are of a true spiritual understanding what he was yet notwithstanding all these things were in my mind and divers other Considerations which occasioned me to defer the publication hereof so long as till now yet being I could not be so clear in my duty towards God and my Brother in neglecting to give forth this my Testimony concerning him and in suffering so precious a Testimony as his last was wholly to be put in oblivion I have with freeness and cheerfulness of heart undertaken it And when it pleased God to manifest his Eternal Power in the heart of the aforesaid R. F. it is well known unto many how effectually it wrought in him insomuch that although he was before a man of great abilities and parts and knowledge accounted of among men even excelling many of his equals yet he was content and willing in obedience to the Power of God to become a Fool to the World and to be stript and emptied of his own wisdom and knowledge which stood in the state faln from God and his Power and to suffer the loss of all worldly reputation and favour and the pleasures and delights thereof that he might win Christ Jesus and be found his Servant clothed with the Righteousness of Faith preferring the simplicity that is in Christ beyond all worldly wisdom and honour whatsoever and his Sufferings for the sake of Christ beyond all worldly reputation and so great was the change that was wrought it him that he became a wonder amongst many and the Word of God and his Power was great and mighty in him and through him in which he was sent forth by the Lord who had manifested himself unto him to preach the Everlasting Gospel to the Poor and to declare of that great Power of God of which he was made a Witness and of the Effects of its operation and so powerfull was his Message and Testimony that many were begotten into a firm belief thereof and believing the Report were turned from Darkness to the Light of Jesus with which they were enlightned and from Sathans power unto the Power of God which wrought mightily in their hearts to the changing of their minds and affections from things that are below towards things that are above all that is fading and corruptible and to the bringing of Life and Immortality to light in them And although they were atttended with many foul temptations because of their obedience to the Truth and Light of the Spirit of Grace and brought in many distresses in their passage from Death unto Life yet was he so experienced in the Depths and Subtilties of Sathan and also in the Dealings and Goodness of God in such conditions and estates that he had obtained the tongue of the Learned and could as oft times he did speak words in Season to the strengthning of the weak and refreshing of the weary and to the reviving of that which was near ready to faint So that he was in the Lords Hand even as a Father to the fatherless and as eyes to the Blind and feet to the lame and the eye that truly saw him blessed hm and the ear that heard him gave witness unto him for through the Power of God which enabled him he delivered the Poor and the needy and built up many that believed in their most precious Faith and confirmed them therein And went about from place to place through the Land of his Nativity turning many from Darkness to Light and confirming the Churches and doing good And his Service was very great for the Lord in his day for he was so furnished with Heavenly Wisdom and Understanding through the Grace of God and also so seasoned thereby that his Patience Meekness and Humility exceeded many And although God had so endued him with Heavenly Vertues and Abilities exceeding many yet was he not pufft up therewith neither sought to exercise Lordship over those that were weaker and younger then himself but gave place unto any that had the least Gift of God to exercise so that through the Spirit of Meekness and Humility with which he was adorned he was exceeding lovely and beautiful and the hearts and souls of many were affected therewith who in simplicity thirsted after Righteousness and such waited for him as for the Rain upon whom his Doctrine so dropped Yet nevertheless he was terrible to the Worker of Iniquity and the Sword of his Mouth was very sharp for the Word of God was therein and when he had to do with any who opposed the Truth and Way of Life and Salvation which we profess and walk in as oft-times he had his Weapon was very sharp to them and they were not able to resist the Wisdom of the Spirit by which he spoke for thereby he confounded their wisdom and broke their Weapons in pieces so that they were oft ready to Blaspheme God because of the plague that it was to them and a Conqueror he was over the Beast and false Prophet against whom he made War in Righteousness in and though the Power of the Lamb in whose Spirit he finished his Testimony and Course in the Faith And as the Enemies of the Truth of God were many and in divers shapes that this valiant Souldiers of the Lamb had to encounter withal so he was alwayes furnished with Armor and Weapons fit for the Work and Service in which he was exercised by which he was enabled to encounter with and Conquer all But at last that his Armor and Weapons might be proved to be sufficient to encounter with the Enemy of Truth in all kind of Appearances and Transformations it was his lot with me and divers others of the Servants of the Lord to be engaged against the Enemy of Truth who had transformed himself into the likeness of an Angel of Light and under a seeming pretence of appearing on the behalf of God and his Cause c. and against Formality and Traditions begun strongly to oppose the Truth of God and the Ministry thereof in and through his Servants and Messengers who have approved themselves as the Ministers of God and as his Embassadors and to cry against our Assemblies and manner of Worship and our Exercise therein as only Formal in which we have always found the glorious Presence Power and Majesty of the Lord amongst us refreshing comforting and strengthening of us even according as our Hearts Souls can or could desire so that we were engaged to justifie the Lord in opposition to that gainsaying spirit of delusion by which many were beguiled led away after Satan to their hurt And in our Testimony for the Lord and against that self-separating gainsaying Spirit the Power of the Lord did greatly accompany and assist us and was as greatly with us as in any service that he had called us unto The sincere and upright in heart who have kept their first Love and their first Faith

J. N. cannot see but there must of necessity be more then one Christ if by the increase of the Word be understood of Christ so that although he concludeth it must needs be the Doctrine contain'd in the Scriptures intended by the increase of the Word yet here he may see his Ignorance therein Again In pag. 9. 10. J. N. saith That in Acts 19.20 the Preaching and Teaching of Jesus Christ is call'd the Word of God Answ To this I have already answer'd that the preaching of Jesus Christ is the Preaching of the Word for his Name is call'd the Word Yet is doth not follow as J. N. would have it that all the Disputings which the Apostle had for the space of three Moneths was the Word It s true he disputed and perswaded the things of the Kingdom according to the Scriptures of the Prophets by Vertue of the Word that was in him so that all they of Asia heard the Word or the sound thereof when the Doctrine thereof was by it self demonstrated For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord said the Apostle 1 Thes 1.8 But the Apostle did not call his Preachings and Disputings the Word but that which he preached For he preached Christ but his Preachings were not Christ but a Testimony of him as Christ said concerning the Scriptures They are they that testifie of me Joh. 5.39 By which it apprears that Christ was the Word which he preached and which they in Asia heard the sound of according to that Saying of Christ The Hour cometh and now is when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son c. And therefore this Argument is but like the rest which make nothing to prove the Scriptures to be principally call d the Word of God Again saith J.N. I should have left prosecuting this Subject but this Truth yet finding more Friends to plead its Cause I am not willing to be a Hinderance c. And then quotes 2 Cor. 4.1 2. where the Apostle said He had not handled the Word of God deceitfully Now saith J.N. what Word of God was this which he had not handled deceitfully but the Ministry he had receiv'd even the Preaching and Teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as is plain in the 3d 4th 5th verses For what he calleth the Ministry in the 1st verse in the 2d the Word of God in the following he calleth it the Gospel and the preaching of Christ according to the Gospel so that its clear by this Witness also that the Preaching and Teaching of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures of the New Testament c. is properly and principally call'd The Word of God Answ Truly J. N. had need find better Friends or some that speak more pertinent to his business then this which he hath here produced or else he may labour as before he said he should long enough to prove Scripture the Word of God and have all to do when he hath ended For if I should grant that he called his Ministry or that of and from which he ministred the Word yet that doth not prove the Scriptures to be the Word because the Life and Spirit of his Ministry is not contain'd in the Scripture Or if I should acknowledge the Gospel to be the Word yet that doth not prove the Scriptures to be the Word For The Gospel is the Power of God as the Apostle said Rom. 1.16 and so are not the Scriptures and the Gospel is Everlasting but the Scriptures are not so But J.N. would make the Scriptures to be the Word the Gospel the Ministry and all and jumbles all together and then says The Apostle calls it so when the Apostle saith no such thing but speaks of his Ministry and of the Gospel which is the Power of God and of the Word which endureth forever which by the Gospel the Power was preached unto them 1 Pet. 1.25 And as to that Question What Word of God was this that he had not handled Deceitfully Answ I answer It was the Word which was from the beginning as John said 1 Joh. 1.1 Which they had Seen and Handled which were not the Scriptures for they were not from the beginning but the Word was which they had handled and which they handled not deceitfully but in Simplicity declar'd openly what they receiv'd by its secret operation and mighty working in them according as Christ commanded them without adding thereto or diminishing therefrom and hence it was that they said They Handled it not Deceitfully Again saith J. N. The second VVitness that appeareth to countenance this Truth is in Col. 1.25 where the Apostle calleth the Preaching of the Gospel the Word of God but for the better understanding of this VVitness let us see vers 23. where the Apostle useth these words to the Church If you continue in the Faith grounded and settled and not remov'd from the Hope of the Gospel which you have heard and which was preached to every Creature under Heaven Whereof he saith in vers 25. I Paul am made a Minister But what to do He answereth To fulfil the Word of God Now what Word of God was this that Paul did fulfil but only his Ministry in Preaching and Teaching of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel which he here calleth the Word of God So that there is no Truth more plain then this that the Scriptures of the New Testament are properly and principally call'd the Word of God Answ Surely J.N. hath a great Conceit of his blind Affirmations it appears as oft times I have seen it viz. That Ignorance in some is as great a Cause of Confidence as sound Knowledge is in others VVhat Reason hath J. N. from the Scriptures before mention'd to affirm the Scriptures of the New Testament to be properly call'd the Word of God Or the Word there spoken of by the Apostle to be meant the Scriptures which he said were given him to fulfil For in the next verse he declareth what that VVord was viz. The Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and from Generations but now made manifest in his Saints To whom saith the Apostle God would make known what is the Riches of the Glory of his Mystery amongst the Gentiles which is Christ in you the Hope of Glory Mark Reader He saith The VVord which he was to fulfil was the Mystery c. and the Mystery was Christ in them c. So that the VVitness that J. N. produceth testifieth against his Affirmation as absolutely as may be to the utter overthrow of his Cause by which the Ignorance and Blindness of J. N. appears But then he saith in pag. 12. I shall give but one Scripture more for the Proof of this Truth and that is Tit. 2.5 Where the Apostle calleth the Doctrine of Christ the Word of God For saith he let us see what the Apostle saith in the first verse where he giveth Titus a Charge to preach sound Doctrine and layeth down the particulars thereof